Bucco Fever

Off Day Thoughts

Jun 14

Posted by Sean H. Steimer | No Comments

I thought I’d take advantage of the off day to ramble a bit on a few various threads of conversation within the fan base.  The team is going through an awful losing streak and hasn’t looked like a legitimate major league team in a few weeks.  Ryan Doumit has been particularly awful, both behind the plate and a first base.  There’s been a bit of talk about him potentially being traded before the July 31st deadline, presumably why he was playing 1st base in the first place.  There’s nothing wrong with the idea of trying to show that Doumit can play a competent first base in order to elevate his trade value, but that clearly has backfired.  So, given the failed experiment, that pretty well limits the trade options to AL contenders willing to give up something for a DH/C, a rather small group.  Whether (and consequently where) Ryan Doumit might be traded at this point is anyones guess, but based on his recent performance, it seems increasingly unlikely that the return will be anything worthwhile.

Moving on from our catcher who can’t catch, lets talk prospects and promotions.  With Walker, Tabata, and Brad Lincoln all called up, the only major piece left at AAA is top prospect Pedro Alvarez.  There’s been quite a bit of speculation about Pedro being called up during the upcoming home stand.  The team could clearly use the help, and from all indications based on his numbers in Indy, Pedro is ready.  The only real question is when?  Given that nothing has been announced yet, I’m gonna guess it won’t happen before tomorrows game.  The Friday night game against Cleveland might be a good choice, but no matter when the call up comes, expect it to come soon.

Finally, I want to take a very quick look back at the Pirates draft.  The Pirates were able to nap the top 2 upside arms in the draft in first and second round picks Jameson Taillon and Stetson Allie.  Those 2 players alone, assuming they can sign them, could make this draft a huge success.  Both can touch the high 90s on the radar gun, and Allie has even been clocked in triple digits.  Taillon is the more polished of the two, with Allie being seen as very raw and with significant command and control issues that will need to be worked out.  Nonetheless, these 2 players would be very significant additions to the system.  As Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus said on Rocco DeMaro’s Pirates extra Innings radio show after the draft, if they can sign both Allie and Taillon, this draft could potentially be seen as the day that turned this franchise around.  Now obviously that assumes a lot in the way of projection and development, but it does show you the potential these 2 prep pitchers have.  They are precisely the kind of high-upside arms the Pirates minor league system currently lacks.

Beyond the first 2 rounds, I can’t claim to know much about the players the Pirates drafted.  There was a heavy focus on right handed prep pitchers, which was seen as the strength of this draft.  Realistically, its tough to evaluate any teams draft in MLB until after the August 15th signing deadline.  Once we find out which players the Pirates sign and which go to college or otherwise go unsigned, it will be much easier to figure out what kind of talent they have acquired.

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Clubhouse Chemistry

Jun 10

Posted by Sean H. Steimer | No Comments

I was browsing Twitter this afternoon, when I stumbled upon this remark by @whygavs:

WHYGAVS Tweet

The article he links to appears on the Pittsburgh magazine website.  It would easily be the biggest misuse of a journalistic platform related to the Pirates this year, were it not for the Pirates Report fiasco just a few weeks ago.  While I’m tempted to tear it apart Fire Joe Morgan style, I’m going to go another route.

There are lots of problems with what Conboy is saying.  But the most egregious of them seems to be a comical misunderstanding of the nature of the sport of baseball.  Baseball, at it’s very core is a game of one hitter vs. one pitcher.  It’s that nature that allows a pitcher like Strasburg to completely dominate a game, despite the fact that he plays for a Nationals team that is below .500, even after sweeping the Pirates this week.  Conboy’s assertion that players like Morgan are important to a developing team seems to completely ignore that aspect of the game.  In true team sports like Hockey, Football, and Basketball you have to rely on your teammates to help maximize your performance.  I have no doubt that in those sports guys like Morgan and Billy G can make a profound difference to a teams ability to win a championship.  But in a baseball, an individual sport disguised as a team game, team chemistry is incredibly overrated.

Now don’t get me wrong, Nyj-Mo was one of my favorite players when he was in a Pirates uniform.  He’s a plus defender with speed on the base paths who can survive as a slap hitter because of his speed.  But ultimately, this isn’t about Morgan’s skills on the field but rather what he does off of it for a young team.  From what I know of Morgan, based mostly on interviews and the like, he seems like an very likeable, funny guy.  That likeability almost certainly translates to the clubhouse, helping to keep teammates loose, but the assertion that it translates to wins on the field is at best unproven and at worst just plain wrong.

If Conboy wants to criticize Pirates management because Milledge hasn’t played well since coming to Pittsburgh and we’d be a better team with Morgan back, that’s fine.  It’s pretty clear at this point that Milledge has been a dissapointment.  Maybe you don’t like the risks Neal Huntington has taken in many of his trades and think disgraced former top prospects like Milledge and Clement never workout and aren’t worth trading for.  But that isn’t what Conboy says.  In Conboy’s world, Nyjer Morgan and Doug Mientkiewicz (for the record he never specifically mentions Dougie baseball, I’m just assuming Conboy would put him in the same camp as Morgan) would still be Pirates, and those 2 players would lead their young players to victory.  In the real world talent, not chemistry, is what wins baseball games.  I’ll even go a step further and bet that if the Pirates continue to develop talent, to the point that they become a winning team, the chemistry and morale in their clubhouse will be just fine.

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New Poll: Cavalry

Jun 10

Posted by Sean H. Steimer | No Comments

With the big league debuts of Tabata and Lincoln (see the post below this one) plus Neil Walker, who made his debut a few weeks ago, the Cavalry (to use Rocco DeMaro’s term) is on its way.  Pedro Alvarez, the last major piece expected to arrive this season, is turning it on at AAA and can’t be far behind.  These players will undoubtedly help the team, but how much?  The team was 23-35 going into last night, but with a pythag record of 14-44.  In the 104 remaining games, how much will the cavalry help?  Vote in the right sidebar.

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On Major League Debuts

Jun 10

Posted by Sean H. Steimer | No Comments

In the Pirates last 2 games, we have seen 3 top flight prospects make their big league debut.  First, on Monday, Nationals much hyped starter Steven Strasburg made hid debut against the Pirates.  He mowed through the lineup, striking out 14 on just 94 pitches.  This isn’t a post about Strasburg, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t say how impressive it was.  I didn’t get to catch much of the game live, but recorded it on DVR and watched Strasburg’s innings last night.  If you want to know how good is stuff is, just consider that there were more than a few occasions where hitters were bailing out against physics defying curve balls for called strikes.  When you can throw triple digits with command and also spin it like that, it becomes very, very hard to get good wood on the ball consistently.

After that game was completed, the Pirates announced 1B Jeff Clement would be optioned to AAA and Jack Taschner had been DFA’d.  Those 2 moves made room for SP Brad Lincoln and OF Jose Tabata to make their big league debut’s last night.  Given how dominant Strasburg was in his debut, part of me considers last night a huge disappointment.  Tabata would bat lead-off and went 2-4 with a SB and a BB.  Quite honestly, if he can continue to do that and sprinkle in an occasional extra base hit, I’ll be happy.  But, there was nothing about his performance that was overwhelmingly excellent, and trying to judge a hitter on one game is just dumb anyway.  A one game assessment of a pitcher makes slightly more sense, just because you can judge how their stuff looks, but its still an awful small sample size, which brings me to Brad Lincoln.

Lincolns final line was rather ugly 6.0 7 5 5 2 3 1.  But he was very much let down by his defense, and he showed me some things I liked.  His plus curve ball that everyone has talked about when he was drafted and making his way through the minor leagues is very much that.  It’s a true out pitch when he locates it.  It may have just been adrenaline, but he had more velocity on his fastball than I expected, hitting 93-94 in the early innings.  At least 2 of the runs he allowed probably should have been unearned, but the no decision he came out of the game with seems fitting given how well he pitched.  I’m gonna give Lincoln a pass for now, given that his first start this year at AAA was a rough one and how thoroughly he dominated the level after that.  I’ve gone over this before, but Lincoln is never going to be a true ace like Strasburg, so comparing the two is just plain unfair.  But he seems to have the makings to become a solid middle of the rotation pitcher, one that should be in a Pirates uniform for at least the next 6 years.

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MLB Draft: Pirates select Taillon at number 2

Jun 8

Posted by Sean H. Steimer | No Comments

I didn’t really get an opportunity to write a draft preview post this year, which is unfortunate since the Pirates ended up taking the guy I wanted them to.  If you haven’t heard yet Jameson Taillon is  a big right-handed pitcher out of Texas who sports a plus fastball, usually sitting 93-95 along with a curve and slider.  He also is working on a change-up, which he will need in order to succeed at the next level.  He immediately becomes the Pirates best pitching prospect, and their number 2 overall prospect behind soon to be promoted (and thus no longer a prospect) 3B Pedro Alvarez.

It would have been easy for the Pirates to go a safer route at this pick, but Taillon was the best talent available and in baseball, that’s the way your supposed to draft.  There are certainly risks, though.  First off, like all pitching prospects, and especially the high school variety,there is always the chance of injury or flameout.  From what everyone says about how good his stuff is, flameout seems unlikely, but you just never know with pitching prospects.  There’s also the cost.  It’s hard to say exactly what it will take to sign him (I’ve heard everything from 4 Million to 8 Million), but rest assured the Neal Huntington and company wouldn’t have drafted Taillon if they didn’t think they could sign him to a contract.  Whatever the final number is, it’s going to be significantly overslot, and MLB always sits on those deals until the last minute, which means he’ll be signed on deadline day, and likely won’t show up in a box score until sometime in 2011.

Tallion was the Pirates only day 1 pick (1st & sandwich rounds).  Looking ahead slightly to day 2, there are 2 names that stand out for as solid options for the Pirates 2nd round pick, 52nd overall.  James Paxton and  Stetson Allie.  Paxton was drafted last year as a pitcher out of the University of Kentucky, didn’t sign, then lost his college eligibility due to issues around his representation.  He pitched briefly this year in independent ball, but wasn’t impressive.  Nonetheless, he was a top pitching prospect last year and was rated by Keith Law of ESPN as the #21 overall prospect in this years draft, and getting that kind of talent in the second round, assuming they can sign him, would be a nice addition.  Stetson Allie is a hard throwing lefty from St. Edwards HS in Ohio.  He’s destined for the bullpen, and has almost no command or control currently, but he is the hardest throwing pitcher in this draft, and guys who can throw 100 MPH don’t grow on trees.  There are probably a handful of other guys who slid out of the first day of the draft who would be good additions to the Pirates system, but those are the 2 I’m targeting now.

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